


All of My Life

by telliefan (captainamergirl)



Category: General Hospital
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6900946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/telliefan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dante seeks out Brook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Part 1**  
  
 _ **Long Island, New York  
Summer 2012**_  
  
He had been stationed on Long Island for a little over two weeks and he was already going stir-crazy. This was his first big case since returning to the bureau a few months before and when he wasn't pounding the pavement looking for an escaped criminal rumored to be hiding out in Suffolk, he was alone drinking beer in his painfully small and cloyingly hot apartment. He wasn't a drunk - far from it - but sometimes the alcohol did admittedly dull the memories a bit, did dull the pain that wrapped around his throat like a vice, threatening to crush him with its grip. He was constantly thinking of how he had seemingly let down the world, especially the people in it he cared about the most.  
  
Tonight the heat was so thick in his apartment, not even cold beers could take the edge off. He was soon driven outdoors like the rest of the people in Long Island suffering through this interminably long summer. He walked the five blocks to the beach despite the fact that he felt he was going to melt under the big gray moon above. He had expected the beach to be crowded even at the untimely hour of nearly ten p.m. and he wasn't wrong. People in shorts and bathing suits were still roaming the beach, looking for a way to beat the stifling heat.  
  
He had his shirt under his arm as he walked towards the water's edge and he saw a gaggle of teenage girls watching him and giggling. He normally would have smiled back, maybe said a little harmless, flirtatious word but he didn't have the energy or the desire now. Instead he just kept walking past them and then waded into the still-warm water up to his knees. The waves slapped his thighs and ruffled his toes as he stood there and finally moved with the waves further into the distance. He finally dove into the water and swam and swam until he was forced to lift his head from the wet spray. He looked up and noticed he had strayed so far from the beach the people were just dots before his eyes now. A part of him wanted to keep going but he knew that though he had only had two beers before he left his apartment, he was risking serious consequences if he kept going. Even though he told himself no one would honestly care in the world other than his mother, he at least owed it to the bureau to find the wanted mobster Manuel Rico. He knew this was a test from the higher-ups because his own father was a career criminal and he knew he didn't want to fail it. Not this time. So he dove back under the water and started paddling back to shore.  
  
He reached the beach in no time and climbed out of the water. That gaggle of girls was close by giggling and oohing and ahhing but he still ignored them though one with long dark hair and brown eyes reminded him of the person he was most trying to forget.  
  
He moved down the beach and finally found a spot in the sand that was fairly distant from the other beach-goers. He dropped down onto the sand and just lay there for a good long time. He then had the luxury of thinking and it wasn't the most pleasant thing at all.  
  
 _Time, I've been passing time watching trains go by  
All of my life   
Lying on the sand watching seabirds fly   
Wishing there could be someone   
Waiting home for me_  
  
XoXoXo  
  
 ** _Port Charles, New York  
February 2012_**  
  
Dante took a deep breath as he walked into his apartment and noticed Lulu already taking up residence on his couch. "Lu-"  
  
"Don't start, Dante!" she immediately snapped at him, her face red and flushed with true rage. "It's my turn to do the talking."  
  
He nodded and rested his back against the far wall. "I will listen."  
  
"Well good for you because you swore up and down after all she did to try and break us up that you would never, ever betray me with her. Brooklyn is trash and you were happy to sink down to her level, weren't you? You disgust me. I am so done with you. This time for good. Every instinct told me not to trust you again but I tried and this is the thanks I get. You kissing Brooklyn was the most disgusting -"  
  
Dante held up a hand, feeling the need to shout back at her that she didn't understand what that kiss had really been all about but he simply nodded. "It was wrong, Lulu, okay? I shouldn't have done it but she was so sad and grieving and -"  
  
"And I'm not?!" Lulu snapped, tears running down her face. They were born more of anger now than hurt. "Nikolas was my brother; my flesh and blood. All he was to Brook was a sugar daddy and a cheap lay. Because she's disgusting and amoral and -"  
  
Dante wanted to make her stop but didn't begin to know how. "Whether you like it or not, Lulu, Brook really adored your brother and she's just as devastated about him dying so-"  
  
"Even if that were true - and I truly doubt it - that's no excuse for kissing her Dante. You could pat her on the back or give her a hug even but kissing her ... That just tells me that you wanted her."  
  
"What do you want me to say?"  
  
"I want you to deny you want Brooklyn. I want you to look me in the face and say that."  
  
"Lulu -"  
  
"If you can't say that then we're really done. Forever. And I never want to see you again!"  
  
Dante thought it over. He could lie to Lulu; he really could but the truth was he did want Brook. He always had, ever since they had attended that wedding as kids where they danced and held each other close for the first time. He had been stubborn denying it all this time. He cared about Lulu and he had never wanted to hurt her but he couldn't stand there and deny it anymore. He wanted Brook. He loved Brook. "Lulu, I can't say that because I don't want to lie to you."  
  
"So you do want Brook?" Lulu screeched. "You do want that little skank?"  
  
"Don't call her that."  
  
"How can you defend her after everything?" Lulu shook her head and jumped off the sofa. "You know what, forget it. Go and be with Brook for all I care. I don't give a shit anymore. You and I are over, Dante! I gave you everything and you destroyed it. Go to hell." Then she slapped him across the face and marched out.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Dante thought so many times about going to see Brooklyn after that. That whole first night after Lulu had stormed out, it took all of his willpower not to run to Brook and make her his in every way that counted. But he resisted because she was still grieving for Nikolas, even if Lulu didn't want to believe it. He held off a whole week, burying himself in his work and recriminations from everyone about how badly he had treated Lulu while he bided his time. Brook deserved a lot more than a week to grieve for Nikolas but when Dante couldn't take it anymore, he went to Wyndmere to see her and declare his feelings and intentions the proper way. However, the sad little butler informed him that Brooklyn had left hours earlier and had informed Alfred she would not be returning anytime soon. Maybe she had hoped Dante would come and he hadn't. At least not in time so she had given up.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
 _Looking back as lovers go walking past  
All of my life   
Wondering how they met and what makes it last   
If I found the place would I recognize the face_   
  
Now he looked up as a man and a woman holding hands moved down the beach together, smiling at each other happily, so full of obvious love for each other. He was far from the sentimental time his mom liked to kid him about being but he honest to god, he wished it was him and Brooklyn. He still wanted her. He still needed her. He still loved her and she wasn't around. He should have gone after her after she left town but he kept thinking she needed time to heal, kept thinking she didn't need him, and now he was the one who had definitely lost out big-time.  
  
"Brook..." He murmured into the night. He had this whole weekend off, he reminded himself. He could easily go and see her. It would take five minutes with all his contacts to locate her and just a bit longer to go and actually see her. He should do it. He definitely should. Why was he so worried anyway? She had told she loved him all her life once. That kind of devotion didn't fade over a night or over a few months as the case may be. Maybe they just needed a little time to get it right but they could do it. If she still loved him, then he would make things right this time.  
  
 _I think we're gonna need some time_  
Maybe all we need is time   
And it's telling me it might be you   
All of my life   
  
He decided now that he was definitely going after her like he should have all along.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**  
  
_**New York City, NY  
Summer 2012**_  
  
He kept the promise to himself to track down Brook. By the next afternoon, he was standing on a bustling street in front of a huge brick apartment building. His stomach was all tied up in knots but he felt a strange sense of euphoria as well. He was going to see her! After too many months apart and still too many years before that, he was actually going to see her. And if he played his hand right, maybe he would get what he had always secretly wanted - her in his arms.  
  
He took a deep breath, an attempt at steadying his racing heart. And then he walked inside the building and noticed a burly security guard standing by the elevators. The man looked at Dante suspiciously and Dante quickly flashed his badge. “Routine questioning,” Dante murmured. The guard looked at him disapprovingly but then stepped aside, letting Dante onto the elevator.  
  
Dante pushed the button for the fourteenth floor and it began to travel slowly, too slowly, upwards. Dante knew Brook had been having money problems back when she returned to Port Charles in 2010 so he was glad to see she was in a nice place now. Her being safe and protected; that is what he wanted most.  
  
He took a deep breath and stepped off the elevator, looking at the apartment number he had scrawled on a little scrap of paper though by now he knew it by heart. Her place was at the end of the hall and it both seemed to take forever and not long enough to get there. He had planned out what he was going to say but it was all but forgotten by now. He should have probably brought her flowers. He should have brought her something other than his heart in his hand but there was no turning back now.  
  
He reached the door to her apartment and prayed silently she was home and alone. Slowly he raised his hand to knock and lightly rapped his fist against the wooden door. He held his breath as he waited for some response. It seemed to take forever before he heard soft footsteps on the other side.  
  
He let out the breath as he heard her unbolt the door and then she was standing there. Staring at him in shock and looking so beautiful and...  
  
“You’re pregnant!” He blurted out. “Oh my god...”  
  
He fell into silence for a moment and she kept staring at him in shock. “Never seen a pregnant lady before? ... What are you doing here, Falconeri?” She demanded.  
  
“I - I had to see you,” Dante said. “I just never expected ... that ...”  
  
“That makes two of us,” Brook admitted.  
  
“Is it Nikolas’s?”  
  
Brook nodded. “Yeah. I am not a slut no matter what Looloo will tell you. Speaking of Looloo, where is she? She wouldn’t let you visit me alone would she?”  
  
Dante didn’t answer her right away as his eyes were still riveted to the basketball-sized lump underneath her amber-colored dress. “Sorry ... Its just, Brook, you’re having a baby!  
  
“Does anyone know you’re having Nikolas’s baby?”  
  
“Why are you so fixated on this?!” Brook snapped and then her voice softened a bit. “Actually, no. No one in Port Charles does. I don’t want to deal with their disapproval.”  
  
“That doesn’t sound like the Brooklyn Ashton I know. You were never afraid of anything.”  
  
Brook glared at him. “I am not afraid! I don’t do scared.”  
  
“I think this time you are.”  
  
“I am not scared!” she insisted emphatically. “You are just making me very uncomfortable. You have yet to tell me why you’re here, bothering me.”  
  
“I am worried about you, Ashton. I know your grandmother is missing you ... And I - I missed you. I really, really missed you.”  
  
He watched her expression change from shock to sadness. Her eyes filmed over with tears and he realized then how much he had really hurt her.  
  
“I don’t believe you,” she finally said. “You chose Lulu over me time and time again. You can just leave now.” She started to slam the door in his face but he kicked a foot in the crook of it to stop her.  
  
“Lulu and I are over,” he said.  
  
Brook peered out at him from the crack in the door. “Oh I get it then. She broke up with you so you go running for the nearest warm body.”  
  
Dante shook his head. “That’s not how it went down. Not at all. She found out about our kiss and asked me point-blank to deny I was in love with you and Brook, I could’t. I didn’t want to. Because I love you, Ashton, and I think I always have. With everything in me, I love you so much.”  
  
Brook stumbled back a bit and the tears she had been seemingly try to hold back gave way. “No, Dante, no! Hell no.”  
  
He slid his hand through the door, reaching for hers. “Yes, yes. Its true. I am so sorry I hurt you but I swear, I never stopped loving you or wanting you. That’s why none of my other relationships ever worked. Because they weren’t you. No one could be you.”  
  
“You’re just saying this, because you’re confused. Or you’re lonely. Or just horny. Yeah that has to be it.”  
  
“That’s not what this is about. Sure I’d love to be that way with a woman again but only if that woman is you, Brook. If you’ll have me. If you’ll let me in. If you can forgive me for always putting you last on my list. I was just afraid of how much I cared about you. Its not an excuse but its the truth. Please believe that.”  
  
By then, Brook was no longer trying to brush away her tears. They were falling freely. She moved away from the door then and lets him inside. For a moment, she lets him inside. Lets him see her the way she really is. Lets him see her heart laid bare.  
  
He walked inside and spotted a box of tissues on the entryway table. He pulled out a handful and gingerly reached out and started to dab away her tears one by one.  
  
“Dante, please ... don’t...”  
  
“I have to. I need you. I love you with all of my heart. But if you can really look at me and say that you don’t feel the same way, that you don’t love me too, I’ll leave now and never bother you again. But if there’s a chance, even a small chance, you love me too then I think we owe it to ourselves to see where this can go.”  
  
“If Lulu comes running ...”  
  
“It won’t make a difference. There’s only one woman I want and she’s standing here in front of me looking more beautiful than anyone has a right to.”  
  
“Oh please, I’m huge. I’m obese ...” her voice trails off for a moment. “God, Dante, I waited so long to hear this from you. I wish I could trust in you...”  
  
Dante nodded. “I know. You have every reason to doubt me. But can you give me a chance? Let me prove to you I can be the guy you need. Let me prove to you that you’re the only woman I want, ever.”  
  
Brook suddenly leaned over and kissed him hard. He could taste the saltiness of her tears on her petal-soft lips. Then she pulled away and quirked a smile. “Dante, there’s a really big problem between us.”  
  
“Your belly?”  
  
She smiled a bit more. Briefly. “Hey!” She sighed. “But yeah, Dante. I am pregnant with another man’s baby. Lulu’s dead brother’s kid.”  
  
“Hey. If anyone knows DNA is not everything, Ashton, its me.”  
  
“Dante, what are you saying?”  
  
“I am saying, I’d like to be there for you and your baby. Your little -”  
  
“Girl.”  
  
“Girl. As far as I’m concerned, she’s already a part of the total package. I will love her so much if you’ll let me. Everyone will. Lois at least knows, right?”  
  
Brook shook her head. “No. I haven’t exactly found the right way to tell her. She just thinks I’m busy on tour and that’s why I haven’t gone to see her.”  
  
“Why are you so afraid?”  
  
“Maybe I know when you love someone, you lose them.”  
  
Dante felt horrible seeing the pain in her eyes. The pain he had put there. “Well not me, Brook. Not ever again. I’ll be with you every step of the way from here on out if you let me.”  
  
Brook pressed her head into the crook of his neck and her fingers found the tips of his longish hair. “That night... That horrible night ... I just need you to know ... When I drugged you... I swear I wasn’t going to hurt you. I had to see the task through but I never would have, I never would have- I wouldn’t have gone any further. I need you to know that. Believe it before we can go any further.”  
  
“Brook -”  
  
She pulled back and looked at him earnestly. “Say you believe me, Dante.”  
  
“I believe you, Brook. I believe in you. With all that’s in me. And damn, I love you.”  
  
Brook nodded. Right before her lips found his, she whispered, “I love you too, Falconeri.”  
  
_If I could ever say it right_  
 _And reach your hostage heart_  
 _Despite the doubts you harbor_  
 _then you might_  
 _Come to believe in me._  
  
_The life I lead is not the kind_  
 _That gives a woman peace of mind_  
 _I only hope someday you'll find_  
 _That you can believe in me._  
  
_Those other loves that_  
 _came before_  
 _Mean nothing to me anymore_  
 _But you can never be quite sure_  
 _And will not believe in me._  
  
_Too many hearts have been broken_  
 _Failing to trust what they feel_  
 _But trust isn't something_  
 _that's spoken_  
 _And love's never wrong_  
 _when it's real._  
  
_If I could only do one thing_  
 _Then I would try to write and sing_  
 _A song that ends your questioning_  
 _And makes you believe in me._  
  
_Too many hearts have been broken_  
 _Failing to trust what they feel_  
 _But trust isn't something_  
 _that's spoken_  
 _And love's never wrong_  
 _when it's real._  
  
_If I could only do one thing_  
 _Then I would try to write and sing_  
 _A song that ends your questioning_  
 _And makes you believe in me_  
 _Oh, you can believe in me_


End file.
